Junior Year
by dreams of a stranger
Summary: Rachel returns to McKinley High for Junior year. Little does she know that this year wil be completely different... Set after Series One. Spoilers from throughout. Rachelx?, other stories shown.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing related to Glee, I only write for funsies.**

**Summary: Set after the summer, after Series One of GLEE!**

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"Berry!" Coach Sylvester's voice boomed across the choir room to the girl who was diligently removing the dust covers from the piano and music stands after a summer of misuse. There was still an hour and a half before the start of the school day, and year, given that it was the first day, but Rachel wanted to arrive extra early to prepare the choir room, dance studio and auditorium so that she could inform the janitor of any repairs that were necessary before rehearsals began.

Rachel turned to face the cheerleading coach head on; silently coaching herself to show none of the fear that Sue Sylvester was known to feed off. _Head up, shoulders back, keep your voice clear and steady._

"I just received an interesting phone call from an old rival, David Sparks, the new dance coach at NYU." Sue said, leaning her tall body against the black baby-grand "Rumour has it that there is a junior girl at this school who is more than athletically, gymnastically and choreographically capable of doing the Cheerio routines who has not made these talents known to me. He also tells me that this student attended a Broadway boot-camp this summer and was highly accomplished in all areas, but needs more hours of training and performance that would be perfectly offered by the six-time national cheerleading champions that this school is host to. Would you happen to know anything about this?"

"Perhaps." Rachel lifted her head slightly with pride at being called 'highly accomplished', meaning that much more that being repeated by Sue, a notorious bully. "Although I have no interest or intention of joining the Cheerios if it means suffering under the totalitarianism of your tyrannical regime; particularly after having the personal experience of you sabotaging the Glee Club last year for no reason other than spite and malice."

Sue smirked and nodded her head once. "Impressive speech, Berry, almost up to the personal dramatics of one Sue Sylvester. Let me break it down for you: with Quinn de-spawned and fitting in her uniform again, and her mother threatening legal action if I don't re-admit her to the squad, I am in need of an extra girl to even up the numbers again. I want you, and am willing to leave your little Glee club alone for as long as you prove your worth."

Rachel looked at Sue sceptically. "No sabotage at all?"

"No sabotage, ploys, manoeuvres, tricks or involvement of any kind, on my honour as an educator. I am even willing to sit down with Schuester and organise a schedule like he did with Tanaka so that you, along with Quinn, Santana and Brittany can attend both practices without issue." Coach Sylvester looked at Rachel without blinking for an inhuman amount of time.

"I'll need that in writing." Rachel stated calmly, feeling anything but.

The prospect of New Directions finally being able to fulfil their potential if Sue left them alone was almost too good to be true. Definitely worth joining a squad of cheerleaders that hated her. Plus there were other benefits that tipped the scale in Sue's favour: the aerobic exercise would only further enhance Rachel's lung capacity and breath control, the dance experience would look great on her resumé, if they won nationals again Rachel would get on TV, enhancing her publicity. Plus the biggest possible advantage of being a Cheerio: it was against every rule of social conduct at McKinley to slushie a Cheerio. Quinn had been the one exception to the rule, and that was almost a year ago.

"Fine, I'll have a contract drawn up by the end of the day. In return I'll need you to prove that you're worth the effort that not disrupting the Glee club will cost me." Sue crossed her arms over her chest and drew herself up to her full height, not pleased with the backbone that the short girl had apparently grown over the summer and was now using against her. "Be in the gymnasium in ten minutes, and be prepared to prove yourself."

With that, Sue spun on her heel and marched out of the choir room. Rachel sagged slightly, the adrenaline coursing through her veins. _I just stood up to Sue Sylvester and got her to negotiate._ She burst into laughter or sheer disbelief at the memory of the discussion. _Wow._

Nine minutes later she was in the gym doing multiple somersaults, cartwheels and dance moves as Sue watched critically from the bleachers and barked orders from a megaphone. Rachel had lost track of how much time had passed when Sue stopped instructing her. The coach held her in a judgemental gaze before raising the megaphone to her mouth once more. Slightly out of breath, Rachel braced herself for another onslaught of directions.

"Santana! Brittany!" Sue yelled. Rachel was confused until she saw the two girls named burst through the door to the gym and stand to attention, flanking the auditionee. "You have 45 minutes, get her looking like a Cheerio."

"Ow!" Rachel exclaimed as Santana scraped the fine tooth comb through her hair for what seemed like the millionth time in her quest to get the perfect ponytail. She was sure that the latina was determined to draw blood from her scalp before she was finished.

"Suck it up Berry" Santana instructed her harshly, but offered her a weak smile in apology. "This is surreal; I mean last year Coach Sylvester forced us to be mean to you and anyone who wasn't a Cheerio or jock. Now you're one of us!" She wound the red hair tie tightly around the clump of hair in her hand and added red and white ribbons to it, tying them in a perfect bow. "I'll totally teach you how to do this yourself when we have more time. Maybe this weekend – Oh My God! We have to have a slumber party to welcome you to the squad!"

Rachel stared with wide eyes and dropped jaw as Santana clapped her hands excitedly and jumped up and down. Gone was the cold, bitchy girl that terrorised the halls of McKinley and made the massive Jocks feel like little boys. Seeing this, Santana stopped suddenly.

"You tell anyone about that, I'll deny it!" she declared. "Brittany, hurry the eff up with that uniform, time's a-ticking!"

"I'm trying" Brittany's muffled voice came from the store room at the back of the Cheerios locker room. Rachel had never been in here before since it was always locked and required a key that was only granted to the squad. The large room was sparklingly clean with what looked like brand new furniture. There were dressing tables with large mirrors that had light bulbs around them. Each one had the name of one of the girls above it, and she was shocked to see 'Rachel Berry' with a gold star already above the mirror between Santana's and Brittany's. Apparently that one used to be Quinn's, but she was going to be demoted to the one nearest to the shower room, since it always got steamed up, and she didn't deserve a better one. Santana said that Sue had had the name installed a week ago after the call from NYU, determined to get Rachel on the squad.

Quinn was a point that Santana had lectured Rachel on during the torture that she called hair styling. There was no Cheerio practice being held that day, since it was a Thursday, and Sue thought it best to keep Quinn hanging and not telling her that she was back on the squad until minutes before practice the next day. Rachel was also to keep the secret. The aim was to make Quinn realise that she was no longer top-dog in the squad, and that her position in it was no longer certain or welcomed. Coach Sylvester was waiting for Quinn to break the slightest rule just so that she had an excuse to cut her from the team. As harsh as it was, Rachel agreed that Quinn could do with the reminder.

"OK so I think I have one that should fit, I had to dig a bit to find a new one. The used ones are the worst!" Brittany exclaimed as she threw a top, skirt and pair of spanky-pants at Rachel. "Sneakers are already in your cubicle... GO!"

Rachel dashed into the changing cubicle and wrestled her way into the constricting uniform that was strangely comfortable once it was in place. Her legs felt bare without her usual knee-socks, and it felt strange to have her hair tied so far off of her face. Luckily she had managed to convince Santana to allow her bangs to remain down, the way Brittany wore hers.

Taking one last, long look in the full length mirror in the changing room, Rachel stepped out to hollers and cat-calls coming from the other two girls and grinned widely.

"Always knew you had it in you, Berry. Puck is going to flip his lid." Santana said and turned her hand to signal that she wanted Rachel to turn around.

"Puck?" the brunette asked as she did as requested. "Why would Puck care?"

"He has a thing for Cheerios" Brittany said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. "Plus you're with Finn, and he likes a challenge."

"I'm not" Rachel was suddenly saddened. "With Finn, I mean. I left for New York the day after school broke up for the summer, before we had a chance to go on a date or even discuss what we were or wanted to happen between us. All I have is his declaration of love in the seconds running up to our regionals set."

"Whatever, all the guys in school are going to be picking their jaws off the floor when they see you. Now sit down, we just have time for make-up and a quick list of rules to live your cheerio life by."

Brittany and Santana worked in perfect union applying numerous products to Rachel's face while spouting a seemingly practised speech between them.

"Number One" Santana declared. "Don't carry a book bag; use the purse on your dresser. The jocks are socially obligated to carry books for you."

"Two: your locker is now next to ours in the block just outside here" Brittany added as she applied mascara to Rachel while sticking her tongue out in concentration.

"Don't miss a practice without permission, or you'll be switched to partner Jordan, and he gets so touchy-feely that even _I_ don't like" Santana scowled. "And listen to and obey Sue at all times."

"This uniform is for day wear. You'll get a full set at practice with more day uniforms, practice uniforms, show uniform, thermal uniforms, jacket, booty shorts, socks and bikini. Leave all but your day uniforms in your dresser and they'll get laundered when needed" Brittany listed the uniforms on her fingers and nodded when she was sure she had them all.

"Any trouble, we have your back._ Any_ trouble. And by 'we', I mean the squad, but especially me and Brit. We Glee clubbers stick together after all" Santana said pointedly. She took a step back and appraised Rachel's face. Seemingly approving, she zipped up the make-up bag and shoved it in a drawer in Rachel's dressing table. '_Paid for by sponsors_' Rachel thought wryly, wishing Glee had a big enough budget for such frivolities.

"OK. You're done!" Brittany announced, pulling Rachel to her feet.

"Wait!" Santana cried, throwing her hands in the air. "We almost forgot the most important part." She whirled around and pulled a small, black velvet box out of the top drawer of Rachel's dresser and opened it to reveal a dainty silver charm bracelet with three charms on it. "We each get one of these when we become a true Cheerio, and unlike the uniforms, you don't have to give it back when you leave."

"Everyone has a 'C' on theirs, for Cheerios!" Brittany said cheerfully, "And coach Sylvester adds the first two charms, then you're free to fill it up yourself."

Besides the diamond encrusted 'C' in the middle of the bracelet, there was a small silver star, and a musical note. Rachel blinked back the tears that threatened to spill from her eyes at the touching gesture.

"What charms did she add to yours?" She asked the other girls as she fastened it around her left wrist.

"I got a sun because I'm from California and a pair of lips... I'm sure you can work that one out" Santana smiled.

"And I got a clog because my family's Dutch, and a lollipop." Brittany added cheerily. "Do you think that's because Coach thinks I'm sweet?"

"Or because you like sucking things" Santana laughed as Brittany nodded pensively.

Santana handed Rachel the purse from her dresser and told her to empty everything she needed into it. In went her wallet, make-up bag, pencil case, cell phone, iPod, keys, chewing gum and a sealed, unaddressed manila envelope. She picked up the stack of books and nodded that she was ready.

With Santana in the middle and the others on either side, linking pinkies, they made their grand entrance to McKinley as junior cheerleaders.

Rachel Berry was used to being stared at in the halls of William McKinley High School, but the stares she was getting that morning were of a completely different nature than usual. Instead of the cruel, mocking and occasionally pitying looks she was used to, in her new uniform she was receiving looks of admiration, awe and respect. It felt good. Well, it did until Jacob Ben-Israel took one look at her and ran into the bathroom. Total mood killer.

Her self-appointed guides in her new found popularity informed her that it was crucial for the three of them to hang out by her locker for the last ten minutes before homeroom so that the maximum number of people could see that Rachel was a Cheerio, and to make her debut in front of the jocks who were about to get out of the early morning meeting that Coach Tanaka forced them to. Santana made a note in her diary to get Rachel copies of all the Cheerios and Jocks class and extra-curricular schedules so she'd know where people are, and where she should be.

"Quick, face your locker!" Santana hissed, grabbing Rachel by the shoulders and spinning her around harshly. "Look busy, only turn around when it's obvious."

Rachel was confused, but did as she was told._I need to be a Cheerio to save New Directions, and this is part of being a Cheerio_. She told herself as she pretended to be organising her books.

"Good morning Ladies, you're both looking lovely as always" Rachel heard the deep voice of Noah Puckerman getting closer, guessing by the sounds of multiple footsteps that he had several jocks with him. "Where are the rest of the Cheerios?"

"Not been issued uniforms yet!" Santana was equal parts proud and smug about this fact. "The three of us are the only guarantees until practice tomorrow after school."

"Who's number three?" Puck asked, not recognising the petite brunette from the back. "Is she new? I'd definitely remember legs that fine."

This was clearly the obvious moment that Santana was talking about; it couldn't have been scripted better. She spun around in a quick movement and caught sight of Matt, Mike and two other boys in letterman jackets next to Puck; both of whom looked shell-shocked at the sight of her.

"Thank you for the compliment Noah, no matter how perverted the context. And to answer your question, yes I am a new Cheerio." She placed her hands on her hips and cocked her head in a pose that made Santana extremely proud.

Puck's jaw has never dropped so far in his life. "God Berry, you look hot!" he stupidly blurted out the first thing that came into his head as he took in the image before him. Uniform and hairstyle aside, Rachel Berry was hotter than he'd ever seen her. Her legs looked more toned than he remembered her ass perter, stomach flatter and boobs bigger. It could have been the uniform that he knew, from experience of removing them, contained hidden control panels, but her waist looked _tiny_, giving her curves that were all woman, and would have looked plain wrong in her old catholic school girl get-ups.

Rachel narrowed her eyes at him. She knew Puck was shallow, but he never seemed to have a problem with her appearance last year when he was making out with her. "Well it's nice to know that a cheerleading uniform has that much effect on how hot I am, _Puck._"

He winced internally at her use of his nickname, knowing she was angry. Running a hand over his still shorn hair, he took a step toward her, seizing a moment of privacy as Santana and Brittany got re-acquainted with Matt and Mike in the more physical sense, and spoke in a low voice, his face close to hers. "I wasn't talking about the uniform Berry. Whatever you were doing this summer has done wonders for your body."

She flushed with embarrassment and turned her face away from him. In doing so, she spotted Finn rounding the corner into the corridor. Channelling her inner Cheerio, and therefore confidence, she strutted over in his direction, calling his name as she went. Puck shook his head; the Rachel Berry he knew would never have done that.

Finn stopped still in the middle of the corridor, causing a smaller boy behind him to walk straight into him. He'd barely spoke to Rachel all summer. She'd sent him a text as soon as she'd got home from school on the last day back in June, excited because her dads had surprised her with a trip to New York for a music and drama summer school leaving the next day. They'd spoke on Facebook a few times since then, but he'd left for football camp on the day she'd arrived home, and only arrived back in Lima a few days ago. He'd been banking on those weeks before football camp to spend time with Rachel and make her his girlfriend, but months had passed, and he didn't know where things stood. The girl sashaying towards him in a short cheerleading uniform was completely unrecognisable from the girl he'd last seen before the summer.

"I missed you." Rachel said when she reached Finn.

"Yeah. Same." Finn said, still in a mild state of shock.

"Can we talk, after Glee?" She asked hopefully. He nodded so she said goodbye and walked back to her locker after giving him a brief hug.

Santana was waggling her eyebrows in Rachel's direction when she reached the small group again. The shorter girl rolled her eyes and pulled her books out of her locker as the warning bell rang.

"Let me take them." Puck said, taking the stack of books from her hands. "We still have the same homeroom, right?"

Rachel nodded dumbly, and followed after the tall boy. Suddenly remembering the envelope in her purse, she grabbed Pucks arm to stop him.

"I need to talk to you about something." She told him in a serious tone.

"Yeah, I get it." He smirked at her, "You're a Cheerio now, so I suppose you can have a go riding the Puckasaurus"

"OK firstly, you're disgusting. And secondly, don't even try to act like I couldn't have had a 'ride' last year when we were making out in my room if I had wanted one." She raised an eyebrow at him and he raised his hands up in defeat. "This is a serious conversation."

Luckily Rachel and Puck had Mr Schuester as their homeroom supervisor, so when Rachel said that they needed to be excused he waved them off without asking for an explanation. Puck caught a brief glimpse of Mercedes when she saw Rachel and saw her pull her cell phone out almost immediately; no doubt texting or calling Kurt, and anyone else that would listen, to inform him of this, the juiciest of gossip.

Rachel dragged Puck to the choir room and proceeded to pace around the floor with a look of fierce concentration on her face. Puck slouched in a chair watching the display going on in front of him.

"Berry, whatever it is, spit it out." He said after a couple of minutes with no sign of it stopping.

"OK." She said, stopping in front of the seated boy. "Right. Sure." The pacing began again. He rolled his eyes. "So I hate being caught in the middle of this, but maybe it's better coming from me than anyone else. And I was told about it, and asked to pass it on, so really I should."

"Berry-" he began.

"I know, I know." She pulled the envelope out of her purse and spun it nervously in her hands. "It's about Beth." She said quietly. So quietly, he wasn't sure he'd heard her right.

"Beth?" he asked loudly. "What about her?" His daughter had been a sore subject since her birth, when Quinn requested a closed adoption, wanting to know nothing about where the baby girl had gone to live, who had adopted her, or what was happening in her life. Puck was not happy. While he agreed that putting her up for adoption was the best thing he could do for Beth, he still wanted to know about her life. He at least wanted to know that she was being looked after better than he could have done; otherwise what was the point?

"OK you have to promise not to interrupt me until I'm done." She said at him with a pointed look and he agreed grudgingly. "OK. I know who adopted her, and they know that you wanted an open adoption, even though Quinn didn't and the form didn't say that. They're willing to send you regular letters and photos of her if you want, and let you write to her and they'll read the letters to her until she's old enough to read herself. They said, seeing how it goes they'd consider visits. Quinn never has to know anything. If you're not interested, no harm done, but if you want to, I'm allowed to tell you what I know, and give you this envelope, which I swear I don't know what's in it." He sat stone still, staring into space. "You can talk now."

"I don't know what to say." He sat quietly for another minute or two, before making his mind up. "I want to know, I want to be involved. Who adopted her?"

Rachel drew up every ounce of inner strength she possessed and needed to tell Puck the information that hurt her so deeply when she found out. "It's Shelby. My birth mother." Over the last three months she had stopped calling Shelby 'Mom', now realising that Shelby was right when she said that she was Rachel's mother, not her Mom.

Puck looked up sharply and noticed the pain in Rachel's eyes, "I thought it was weird that she was at the hospital."

Rachel nodded "I spoke to her at sectionals and she told me that she was quitting coaching Vocal Adrenaline. Apparently she wanted a family and a normal life. The life she missed out on with me." She swallowed back the tears that were threatening to spill over, the tears that felt like they'd been falling for months. "She asked where the rest of the team were and I told her you were at the hospital. Then a month or so ago she sent a letter to me through my Dad's lawyer. We've been keeping in touch, and then last week she told me that she couldn't morally want to stay in touch with me, but deny you that same right, so she asked me to fill you in and give you this."

She held the envelope at arm's length and Puck slowly took it from her, staring at the envelope that contained everything he'd spent the last three months wishing he knew. The second the paper left her hand, the control she had over her tears shattered and they ran down her face, thick and fast. Puck heard a soft sob and looked up from the envelope in his hand. Seeing Rachel so upset, he didn't pause to think before pulling her into his chest and wrapping his (damn fine) arms around her in a giant bear hug. He may be a badass, but that didn't mean he was an ass. Rachel was his friend; a really good friend based on what she'd done for him today, and he didn't like to see her upset. He did the one thing he knew best...

"You know, Berry, since your Mom adopted my kid, that makes me like your step-dad, or something." He joked, desperate to lighten the mood.

She chuckled, struggling to catch her breath through the tears, "Dads don't check my legs out like you did earlier. Trust me, I have a lot of experience since I have two already."

"Good point." He smiled, glad to have distracted her from her sadness, even if it was just for a second.

"You can let me go now, Noah." She said, voice still muffled slightly from her face being pressed into his chest." _Noah again_, he thought smugly.

"Nah I quite like you like this," he grinned, "Only way I can keep you quiet other than kissing you, and I don't think Finn would appreciate that." He regretfully let her go, and smoothed out the envelope that had been slightly bent in the embrace.

"I'm not with Finn" she frowned, "well, not technically. Well I kind of was. I don't know. He's next on my list of conversations to have."

"Thank you, by the way. For all of this." He waved the envelope slightly, "I would have lost my daughter forever if it wasn't for you."

"I didn't do anything but pass on a message" she said as she started gathering her belongings together to head for her next class, "there's no need to thank me."

"That's bull and you know it" he shot at her, "You must have said something, or else how would she know I wanted to know Beth, despite what the adoption papers said?"

She frowned, knowing that she'd been caught. "OK, but it wasn't a big deal. Don't start being super nice to me or anything, or people will know what I did, and I don't want it getting back to Quinn, she hates me enough as it is."

The bell rang to signal that they needed to be on their way, and Puck couldn't resist getting in one last jibe before they parted ways.

He looked her up and down obviously, before leaning in and whispering, "Looking like that Berry, I think everyone will understand if I start being _nice_ to you." He waggled his eyebrows, the tone of his voice oozing innuendo, and turned away, laughing at the stunned/embarrassed expression on her face.

Being popular at William McKinley was everything Rachel had dreamed of in the last two years of being at the bottom of the social heap. People she had never spoke to were smiling and saying hi to her as they passed in the corridor, jocks were holding doors open for her, people were making spaces for her to sit in classes; in comparison to usual where each spare seat was filled with a bag or a foot. Despite the mild disappointment that she'd come to this position through the clichéd cheerleader route rather than off of her own merit as a person, she was going to enjoy every second of it, totally aware that it could be taken away from her with zero notice.

She spent lunch period with Santana and Brittany in the locker room, getting up to date with the gossip and drama surrounding the rest of the returning squad (just because they didn't know they were back in yet, didn't mean that they hadn't already been chosen).

Besides having English with Mike last period, Rachel didn't share any classes with any members of the Glee Club; well, apart from supposedly sharing the same Algebra class with Noah in third period, but he hadn't attended in years, so she was immensely excited and slightly nervous about the Glee meeting after school. As the class ended at 3:15, Mike promptly gathered her books up into a pile and offered an arm to her with a slight bow. She laughed lightly and hooked her arm into his and walked to her locker, where they were met by the other two cheerleaders as well as Matt and Puck.

"Come on we have to hurry and get to the choir room before the rest of them" Santana grabbed Rachel's wrist and dragged her down the corridor before the shorter girl had even had the chance to open her locker. "We need to pose it just right to assert our dominance, because you just know that Mercedes would have told everyone you were a Cheerio within thirty seconds of seeing you this morning, and we can't let her get the upper hand."

Thoroughly confused as to why exactly they needed to be there first, but officially convinced that Santana didn't do anything in life without making it benefit her in some way, Rachel followed her into the choir room with the other four and hastily sat on the piano bench when Santana pointed to it and barked "Sit!"

Noah sat next to her on the bench giving Santana a disbelieving look as she hurried around, placing everyone's belongings on and around chairs on the back row; adjusting the order of them a couple of times before nodding to herself and spewing out a list of commands:

"Puck sit there and play the guitar. Nothing specific, just background music; and talk to Rachel while you do it. Rachel, join in quietly on the piano absentmindedly but keep chatting." The two looked at each other and shrugged before doing what they were told, knowing that it's easier in the long run to do what she says, especially when she's this frantic. "Mike, Matt, throw a football around or something. Britt, you're with me." She sat herself and Brittany in chairs in the front row and they began fussing with hair and make-up.

Rachel saw Santana's tactic, she had positioned them so that they filled the whole space, making it clear that this was Jock and Cheerio space, but without making it look like they'd done it on purpose. Crafty.

"Err, what about Finn when he gets here San, is he playing with us?" Mike asked before jumping to catch a particularly high ball from Mike. "Dude! We're supposed to be playing casually, not competitively. Right?" he checked.

"Yep, casual. And Finn doesn't factor into my plan. I have a feeling that Glee is going to be divided this year, especially with Berry officially on our side now, and I don't know where Finn's loyalties lie yet." She said from behind the curtain of hair she'd shaken out of its ponytail and over her face. "You just know Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland are going to bitch that she dominates Glee – in a good way – and now gets to be a Cheerio. Wheels and Tina won't get involved as always, God love them. Quinn will be pissed that her life doesn't bounce back into place like her waistline did, and will more than likely go back after Finn or attack Rachel, plus she's got that sista-hood going with Mercedes, which is just weird and totally makes them both think they're head bitches. But they're not – we are. So until further notice we keep a united front and watch each other's backs, especially Newbie's over there." She indicated blindly towards the piano.

Everyone nodded, knowing that the group dynamic was going to change this year more suddenly than the gradual shift that the year before had seen. Rachel was unbelievably happy about the fact that not only did was she finally part of a group, and not her against everyone else as usual, but that the group was specifically agreeing to help and defend her. _Huh, so this is what it's like having friends to back you up._

Puck stated strumming at his guitar lightly and seemingly randomly. Rachel used her musical ear to pick out the key and began to play a quiet melody on the piano that fitted with it roughly.

"Have you opened the envelope yet?" Rachel asked quietly once she was sure that the others in the room were distracted with what they were doing.

"Yeah." He grinned widely and honestly. Rachel was taken aback by the enthusiasm on his face and the absence of his usual smirk. "Letter was along the lines of what you told me. And there was a recent photo. She's grown so much." His face softened in affection.

"I'm glad it's all kind of worked out for you Noah. Shelby may be have been a slave driver with Vocal Adrenaline, and she may not have been there for me, but I have no doubt that she'll be a great mom to Beth. She never really had the option with me; I was made for my dads, so I can't hold it against her too much." She told him, deliberately using a teasing tone for the last sentence to mask the fact that that was only half of what she felt.

"Well I know that she's spoiling her rotten," he laughed, "There was a picture of the nursery, and I've never seen so many toys outside of Toys 'R' Us. She's got everything she could wish for, and it's awesome because I know we'd have never been able to do that for her. Makes me feel better."

Noticing people in the doorway with her peripheral vision, Rachel tilted her head ever so slightly to Puck and changed the subject abruptly. "So when's the first game of the season?"

He took the hint and they carried on an easy conversation as the rest of the club trickled into the choir room one by one. Artie wheeled straight over to the piano and held out a fist, which Puck promptly bumped with his own.

"Whaddup?" the boy in the wheelchair said to the two seated side by side. "We need to hook up for a jam soon bro, it's been too long."

Puck nodded his agreement "I know, we're lucky we got the three in that we did, I was rammed with work this summer."

"No worries, we'll just take over Glee if we need to get our rock on and don't have time!" Artie laughed and Rachel and Puck joined in. "Anyway, I'm going to say hi to Britt and Santana." He spun his chair neatly and said, over his shoulder as he left, "By the way, the uniform looks good on you Rachel."

Tina walked straight over to Artie when she came in and sat next to him, offering a smile and a wave to Rachel and Puck, not wanting to interrupt their playing.

Kurt and Mercedes walked in together, glaring at Rachel, and saying nothing to any of the group of six that were first in the room.

Quinn looked pissed at the sight of Rachel, be it the uniform or her sitting next to Puck, who knows, but she quickly went to sit next to Mercedes and began talking loudly about what an awesome summer she had with her mom.

Finn was the last to arrive. He looked at Rachel in the same confused/dopey way that he did that morning, before shooting Puck an angry glare akin to the ones he used to give him at the beginning of the baby daddy scandal. He went over to Mike and Matt and intercepted the ball, throwing back slightly harder than was necessary.

"Well, initial meeting and we emerged unscathed." Puck murmured to Rachel quietly enough that no one else would hear.

"Yep," she replied, picking up the tempo of the piano and grinning when he sped up his guitar playing to keep pace. "And by the looks of it Artie and Tina are slightly swaying to our side"

Puck looked over and smirked at the sight. Tina was sat having her hair braided by Santana (if that wasn't a girly cliché, he didn't know what was), and Artie was playing patty cake with Brittany and howling with laughter at the songs Brittany was singing along with the clapping. This was the Santana and Brittany he'd known since elementary school; no bitching, no sass, just two girls being themselves. He wondered what caused the change, but decided not to rock the boat by asking.

"They're hooked. Even if they weren't, they would be within the week. No one can say no to Brittany, it's like kicking a puppy." He said.

The analogy made Rachel laugh. She upped the tempo again, releasing the pedal she had so far been depressing, causing the volume of the piano to increase as the almost song they were playing reached a ridiculous crescendo of them both playing as loud and fast as they could while laughing hysterically. With a dramatic flair they both stopped on the same beat, and the majority of the room laughed and clapped at the pair. Quinn, Mercedes and Kurt sat stubbornly with their arms crossed, and Finn only half joined in with the applause.

"OK guys, welcome back!" Mr Schuester announced as he walked through the door, arms spread wide in greeting, "New number for sectionals was it?" he laughed at Rachel and Puck good naturedly. "Rachel, can I see you for a second?" he beckoned her to the office that adjoined the choir room.

"Uh-oh, busted." Noah said.

"Shut it, Puckerman!" she smirked, quoting herself from the previous year, although in a far less disgusted tone.

She followed Mr Schuester into the office and sat down in the soft leather chair in front of the desk that he leant against.

"Sue came to visit me over the lunch period regarding you joining the Cheerios. She said that as long as you were a member she was going to stop terrorising Glee, is that true?" He asked her, head tilting in a questioning way.

"Yes, I believe that is the key part of our arrangement." She confirmed.

"Rachel, you don't have to do this. We proved last year that we can succeed even with Sue trying to stop us. You don't need to take this burden." He urged.

"To be perfectly honest Mr Schue, I need the dance experience and there's nothing bad about being a Cheerio. I would have joined as soon as she asked me, even without the bargain she offered. I just wanted to see if she offered anything in return." She smirked. _Noah would be proud_.

Mr Schuester grinned broadly. "I knew I should never underestimate you Rachel. Well in that case, congratulations on your new Cheerio place!"

They walked back into the choir room to find the rest of the group now seated in the stands. Rachel took a seat between Santana and Puck and listened to Mr Schue outline the timetable for the semester; namely the invitational, sectionals and the Holiday show that Figgins wanted Glee to be part of. Also, while he was planning on posting a sign-up sheet for New Directions - mainly for the new freshmen's benefit - he wasn't pushing the recruitment drive this year, as they already had enough members who were all more than capable. Mr Schue placed a box on top of the piano and announced that it would be there until Monday practice for everyone to put in song suggestions for the group to perform. Deciding that there was no point in doing anything in what was left of the time they had, Mr Schue called an end to the meeting.

Tina whirled around in her seat to face the back row. "Rachel, would you like to go to the mall? I really need a new outfit for mine and Artie's big date tomorrow and could use the company."

Rachel grinned, happy that Tina was, for once, stepping out from Mercedes' shadow.

"Sure Tina, that sounds lovely. I'll drive, and drop you at home after."

"Can we come?" Santana asked from next to Rachel. Brittany nodded earnestly. Rachel looked at Tina to choose, it was her trip after all.

"Great, I could do with more opinions!" she said, smiling at the two.

"Oh Please!" Kurt yelled from the other end of the row of chairs. "Rachel, I know that you're socially inept, but don't tell me that you actually believe that Santana and Brittany are your friends. It's painfully obvious that you being a Cheerio is just another of Sue Sylvester's plans to ruin Glee." Mercedes and Quinn nodded along.

"Shut it Hummel," Santana returned, her fiercest bitch face firmly in place. "We like Rachel, and were only not her friends last year because Sue threatened to throw us off the squad if we were. What were yours and your hag's excuses?"

"Sure you were." Mercedes threw back sarcastically. "Doesn't change the fact that you were given that uniform as part of a ploy or out of pity."

"You mean like you two were?" Brittany asked innocently, causing everyone not included in the argument to snicker softly at the blunt truth.

"I think that even you will realise that if Rachel wasn't a real Cheerio, then she wouldn't have _this_." Santana said as she grabbed Rachel's wrist and lifted it into the air, pointing at the dainty silver bracelet that hung there.

"Holy mother of Liza" Kurt gasped dramatically, pressing his hand to his heart "It's true, 'Cedes. She's got the bracelet, we never got bracelets. She really is a Cheerio."

"I TOLD YOU!" Santana yelled. The four jock boys cowered at the sound of her voice, each having been on the receiving end of her temper on more than one occasion. "Now that that's solved, let's go ladies, we've got some shopping to do!"

The three cheerleaders and Tina gathered their bags and waved goodbye to the rest of the club before heading out of the room and down the corridor.

"Rachel, wait up!" Finn's voice echoed down the otherwise empty hall behind them. "I thought we were going to talk?"

_Finn!_ Rachel stopped suddenly and turned to face the lanky boy with an apologetic expression on her face. "Finn, I am so sorry, our conversation completely slipped my mind. Do you mind if I call you later? It's just I promised Tina that I'd shopping with her for her big date tomorrow." She said in one breath. _Luckily I have excellent lung capacity._

"Err, sure I guess." Finn mumbled. "Bye" he gave a stiff wave and walked back in the direction he came in.

"Now that _that's _dealt with..." Santana began.

"Let's go shopping!" Brittany sang, spreading her arms dramatically as she skipped down the corridor toward the exit.

* * *

**A/N- in "Hello" I notice that Santana and Brittany were both wearing silver bracelets when they linked pinkies to walk over to Finn. I thought it would be nice to make it into a Cheerio thing.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed. Sorry this took so long, I promise the next one will be along soon.  
**

* * *

"How does it look T?" Santana yelled from inside the large cubicle that she and Brittany had commandeered together.

'T?' Tina mouthed at Rachel, who was sitting on a plush red sofa by the wall of mirrors in the dressing room. Rachel shrugged in response, not at all shocked that the 'now-comes-in- friendly' cheerleader had apparently also adopted the quiet Asian girl into her fold. Tina tugged at the hemline of the black dress turned to look over her shoulder into the mirror to get a view of the back.

"It's too short!" She called.

The curtains pulled back dramatically to reveal a scowling pair of girls.

"Tina Cohen-Chang that dress is not too short!" Santana demanded, pulling Tina's arms from attempting to cover as much skin as possible by encircling her chest. "Artie is going to cream himself, you look hot girl! And still totally yourself."

"I'd do you." Brittany shrugged, as if that were the highest of all compliments.

Tina flushed bright red, and grudgingly admitted that the black dress with lace detailing and corset top was totally in her style. "OK, but I'm wearing it with boots."

With that she stomped back into the changing cubicle to get changed, shouting back a weary "Fine!" to the other three girls' demands that the boots must at least have high heels instead of the biker boots Tina frequently wore.

Brittany sorted through the clothes she'd tried on into a large pile of what she was buying, and a couple of items that she was putting back. Santana's 'buy' pile was more conservative in comparison, and Rachel had only tried on one pair of skin tight jeans that Santana has forced her to pick up. She had to admit (silently) that they fitted her perfectly, and that she had to have them.

"So what's the big deal about this date?" Rachel asked as Tina came out in her regular clothes, clutching the little black dress with both hands, "I mean, you and Artie have been out plenty of times before. You seem really nervous."

Tina blushed again, cursing the fact that she'd owned up about the fake stutter as this was something that she didn't want to explain, and a speech impediment may just have saved her.

"Well Artie can't drive, obviously, and I only turned sixteen in August, so I only just got a car last week. Up until now one of our parents had to drive us everywhere, so we never got privacy to end a date with anything more than a peck on the lips."

"Whoo Tina's gonna get some loving!" Santana whooped as Brittany and Rachel catcalled and wolf-whistled.

"Shut up guys!" Tina laughed. She was relieved that none of them had mocked her for being nervous, or been like Mercedes and suggested they just make-out in front of Artie's dad. _Ew_. "It's not like that. We've only been on like 6 dates. It just might be nice to get a little privacy."

"So you can make Lurve!" Brittany drawled seductively.

"NO!" Tina shouted. "So we can make out!" she burst out laughing at how ludicrous the conversation was. "OK, can we go and pay now please?"

The other girls laughed and followed her to the checkout. After leaving the store with their shopping objective complete, they decided to call it a day and voted on where to eat, unanimously deciding to go to Pizza Hut for dinner. Tina was shocked, but extremely pleased at how nice Santana and Brittany were being toward her and Rachel. The tiny sliver of doubt she had been feeling in the Glee meeting regarding the honesty of their niceness dissolved completely by the time she ate her third slice of pizza.

*GLEE*

By the time Rachel got home from dinner it was 8:30, and her stomach was hurting from laughing so much. Brittany's random stories about her cat had had her alternating between fighting for breath and choking on her salad throughout dinner. Explaining to her dads why she was in a cheerleader uniform was more complicated than she thought, and after a decent amount of banter regarding her losing all her brain cells when she put on the spanky-pants, she left the two of them in the living room and headed to her room.

As she pulled out her math textbook to begin her homework –_ seriously, how cruel must a teacher be to give homework on the first day back _ -, Rachel realised what she had forgotten, yet again. _Finn!_

Grabbing her phone from the bottom of her purse, she scrolled through her contacts rapidly, nearly missing the name Finn with the little heart next to it in her haste. Her stomach twisted with nervousness at how this conversation would go. A large part of her wished for Finn to tell her that he loves her again, they promise to be together forever, and they would run into each other's arms in slow motion tomorrow at school. The more sensible part of her knew that that was ridiculous, and that even if Finn told her that he felt the same as he did before the summer, it might not necessarily be true.

"Hello?" Finn finally answered.

"Finn! I am so sorry to call so late, I've not long been in from the shopping trip with the girls." She hurried out apologetically.

"No problem Rachel. So, how are you? I didn't really get a chance to talk to you today." He asked.

"I'm fine. A little overwhelmed perhaps, but I would imagine that that is to be expected with a change such as joining the Cheerios." She told him, grinning to herself as she looked down at the crisp white and red uniform that she still had on. _I so don't want to take this off. Ever. Well, maybe to sleep in, that would be incredibly unhygienic._

"Yeah, what's up with that? I didn't peg you as the cheerleader type." Finn asked curiously. Rachel's back straightened as she immediately jumped on the defensive.

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked frostily. Did Finn think she wasn't popular or pretty enough to be a Cheerio? I mean, yes, she was no Quinn Fabray, but she had honestly felt like she had fitted in with Santana and Brittany all day.

"Nothing!" he spluttered hastily at the harsh tone Rachel had adopted, "just that you never showed any interest in it before, and you weren't friends with any of them. Hell, I never even saw you at any of the football games last year."

"Just because you didn't see me doesn't mean that I wasn't there Finn," She said morosely, her mind drifting back to days of going to games alone and sitting, invisible, in the back row of the bleachers. _ Well not anymore, from now on I'm going to be front and centre on the pitch, cheering and dancing._ "I happen to love football and basketball; it's almost unavoidable in a house with two dads."

"Right, OK. I hope it all works out for you." He said

"Thanks Finn. Anyway the reason I wanted to talk to you was to determine our status as a couple, as I think that we left it extremely undefined before the summer. I'm proposing that we start over completely as friends and see where it leads us. It's been three months since we spent any time together and I feel it would be silly for us to expect to just carry on as if no time had passed. Do you agree?" She asked, the nervousness she had been feeling waning slightly as she finished her speech.

"But I still want to be with you." Finn said, and Rachel's heart soared at his words.

"And I still have feelings for you," she replied "but both of our situations have changed since then, and what with football and Cheerio practice, we may find that we just don't have time for each other, and I would rather us be friends than exes who can't stand to be around each other." '_Like you and Quinn were last year_.' She thought.

"I guess that makes sense. But if we do, you know, have time for each other and all that, can we date again?" he asked hopefully.

"Absolutely." She said firmly. She definitely wanted to date Finn again; after all she had been pining after him for almost the entirety of the previous school year.

Their conversation ended quite soon after that, as Rachel explained that she still had homework to do. Throughout working on the problems that the evil teacher had assigned as homework she kept glancing at her reflection in the full-length mirror on the opposite wall from her bed and grinning at the sight. _Seriously love the uniform._

*GLEE*

Lunch period the next day, and Rachel found herself stood on the bleachers in the gym, watching a stream of girls and boys come through the doors: _Cheerio Pick._ She was stood with Brittany and Santana, four rows up from the floor, consequentially literally looking down on the hopeful students. A small, sick part of Rachel's mind enjoyed her new position and status as she towered over her nervous and excited peers. She saw Quinn stood at one side of the group with Kurt and Mercedes.

"Are those two trying out again?" Rachel whispered to Santana, jerking her head in their direction. Santana nodded in response, struggling to keep a straight face.

A large bang from the side of the room caused all of the occupants to jump and stand up straighter when they saw Sue Sylvester march through the double doors with a clipboard in her hand. She stood directly in front of the three girls on the bleachers and glared down at the gathered students below. '_No doubt searching for signs of weakness_' Rachel thought, remembering her confrontation with the coach in the choir room yesterday.

"OK, listen up, this is going to be fast. You eight boys over there, you're in. Hummel, you're out. All seniors who are returning are in, Lindsay Taylor is the only auditioning senior in, the rest of you are out." Sue took a deep breath before continuing. "Juniors: Santana, Brittany, Rachel, obvious. All other returning Juniors apart from Mercedes Jones and Natalie Livingston are in. Despite all common sense and decency, Q, you're back in too. Sophomores, all back in, no new ones. Freshmen: Richards, Smith, Geller, Suarez, Davies, McAndrew. Don't let me down. More will be added after homecoming when I have the time to beat you into shape."

Sue threw the clipboard down at her feet and placed her hands on her hips. "If you're out, what are you still doing here? I don't want to look at your hopelessness." All the rejected teenagers left the gym quickly, apart from Mercedes and Kurt who hurried over to the coach.

"Coach Sylvester," Kurt began, "As an integral part of last year's Nationals winning team, I feel that I deserve a place on this squad."

"Hummel, you were a novelty, and novelties don't last. I never repeat a hook, and therefore will not be using a singer again. So unless you can prove to me that you can lift a Cheerio over your head with perfect form, and Mercedes can perform a back hand spring, then neither of you have a reason to be here." Sue replied icily.

"But you let Rachel in!" Kurt spluttered. He reached a hand up to check that his hair hadn't been disrupted by his outburst.

Sue didn't miss a beat. "I invited Rachel to join as a dancer and gymnast, not a singer. She has proved her ability to perform each stunt required as a basic Cheerio, and several advanced moves. Now get out of my gym."

Kurt and Mercedes looked at each other before turning away and walking slowly out of the room.

Sue spent the rest of the lunch period handing out uniform packs to the squad whilst issuing a list of expectations and rules, including weekly weigh-ins and monthly fitness tests.

"For some obscene reason, Figgins is demanding that the Cheerios continue to appear and perform at the extremely low-standard athletic events that this school hosts." Sue spat in a quietly malevolent voice, her disgust blatant. "Therefore there will be a Saturday practice at nine AM, and every day after school next week in preparation for the farce that is the pep-rally and opening game on Friday. I refuse to allow my squad to slip to the standard of the team you are supposed to be cheering for."

_Every day?_ Rachel realised that she wouldn't be able to attend the two after-school Glee rehearsals next week. She looked over at the two girls next to her who both shrugged lightly when they caught her gaze. _Guess there is no way of getting out of it. _She hoped that Mr Schuester would understand.

"One last thing," Sue continued, "Figgins has decided that the Cheerios are too _'inaccessible'_ and that you uniforms cause a rift between you and the rest of the population of this school. While he is completely missing the fact that your uniforms are intended to separate you from the weak minded and bodied swarm of acne that walk the corridors, the decision has been made that you must all wear regular clothing for one day a week. I have chosen Tuesdays."

_No!_ Rachel thought to herself. She had quickly fallen in love with her uniform, and was not prepared to go back to regular clothing. Her uniform was practically a Slushie repellent, and she dreaded the following Tuesday without it already.

After school Rachel took it upon herself to inform Mr Schue that the Cheerio third of the club would be unable to attend Glee practices next week. _Maybe Tina would get the female lead_, she thought, and was shocked at herself when she wasn't more upset at the hypothetical situation.

Mr Schuester was in the choir room when Rachel entered, sorting through stacks of sheet music and books, and he looked up with a smile when he heard the door click behind her.

"Hey Rachel, what's up?" he asked, noting the worried expression on her face.

"Mr Schue, I'm terribly sorry but Coach Sylvester has called for after school practices every day next week to prepare for the first game, so Santana, Brittany, Quinn and myself will be unable to attend Glee rehearsals. I wish that we could skip, but it seemed pretty clear that they were mandatory." She said.

The teacher smiled gently "Don't beat yourself up Rachel, Sue and Ken both told me last year that they increase practices near games or competitions, just like we do in the run-up to Sectionals or Regionals. I'll just cancel rehearsals next week, it would be pointless with four missing."

Rachel smiled in relief at her coach's understanding of her dilemma, she abhorred letting people down.

The door slammed open with a loud bang, and both Rachel and Will were startled by the sound as Puck swaggered into the room.

"Hola, Señior Schue!" he announced, as the two previous occupants of the room rolled their eyes at his horrific pronunciation. "Tanaka's going crazy about our game record last year, and is making us practice every day next week, so the five of are out of Glee until after next week." Unlike Rachel, Puck showed no confliction or remorse about his proclamation, knowing that he was just following orders from the scarier of his two coaches, and therefore didn't really have an option.

"Five?" Mr Schue asked, mentally counting the footballers in his head.

"Me, Hudson, Chang, Rutherford and Hummel" He said, shaking his head. "He came running back asking to be kicker about three minutes after he was rejected from the Cheerios."

"Right, well that only leaves three members available next week," Mr Schue laughed, "Definitely not worth holding a rehearsal."

Rachel left the choir room feeling much better than when she went in, with Puck following closely behind her as she walked out of the school and toward her car.

"So, you talk to Finn last night?" He asked her casually.

"Yes." She replied, "We decided to start from scratch, without all of the drama of last year"

"That sucks, I thought you two were all mad for each other. Glee Golden Couple, and all that" he said as they approached her car.

"I'm not sure" She said quietly, "That might not have been a realistic plan. We're going to see how it turns out"

"Sounds... sensible."

"I know you didn't mean that as a compliment, but I'm going to pretend that you did." She smiled at Puck. "I'll see you on Monday". She climbed into her car and started the engine before Puck could respond and contradict her statement.

*GLEE*

At eight AM the next morning, Saturday, Steve Berry opened the front door of his house to find two teenage girls on his porch in red and white cheerleading uniforms.

"Hi Mr Berry!" The perky blonde said and she bounced lightly on the balls of her feet. "I'm Brittany, and this is Santana" she pointed at the Latina stood calmly next to her "We're here to pick up Rachel for practice!" She smiled sweetly at him, and Steve had a strong suspicion that she had never been denied anything that she'd wanted in life.

"Sure girls, her room is upstairs, second door on the left" he pointed to the stairs behind him, "She should be almost ready".

The girls skipped past him and up the stairs, calling their thanks over their shoulders on the way. Steve shook his head at the confidence of the two girls, and smiled when he thought of Rachel having girl friends for the first time in years.

Rachel was tying the last bow in the ribbon in her hair when the door to her bedroom flew open without as much as a knock. Brittany and Santana ran over and hugged her, announcing that they were driving her to and from practice today. She barely had time to wave goodbye to her dads who were sitting on the front porch swing as she was dragged past them.

They arrived at school at 8.20, and according to Santana, it was important that they were there first. Rachel didn't mind, punctuality was something she prided herself on, and it didn't hurt to get into Sue's good books.

After dragging the equipment out of the storage room and onto the football field, they did a light warm up and then Brittany demonstrated the precise wrist movements necessary for creating the best movements in her Poms.

The rest of the girls filtered onto the pitch one by one; apparently the male cheerleaders weren't required for game performance. At the exact second that the clock clicked onto 9:00, the shrill blow of a whistle through a megaphone screeched over the pitch from where Coach Sylvester was standing on the sideline in front of what looked like the desk and chair from her office.

"Line Up!" She shouted unnecessarily through the megaphone. "Santana, teach them the game chants!" Sue took a seat behind the desk and began planning the half-time routine for Friday's game and a demonstration for the pep-rally, knowing that even if her squad laid down and took a nap, it would be more entertaining than watching the abysmal football team lose again.

For nearly two hours Santana ran through all of last season's chants and moves, occasionally calling up Brittany to help her demonstrate. The returning Cheerios looked bored at being taught what they already knew, and the new recruits were picking it up quickly.

"Mediocre!" Sue's voice rang out, "Twenty minute break, try to find your talent!"

Rachel retrieved three water bottles from one of the coolers they had brought out before practice, and tossed two to Brittany and Santana who took a large swig and reclined on the grass. Two other girls jogged over and sat next to the trio.

"Hey guys!" Santana smiled at them. "This is Rachel. Rachel, this is Emily" she pointed to the petite red-head, "and Claire." She waved her hand at the lanky black girl to her left, "They're two of the good ones."

"Hi, I think you're in my History class" Rachel said to Emily, who nodded back.

The five girls chatted for a few minutes, and all the while Rachel was exceptionally aware of Quinn's watchful gaze.

"Whoo, 28!" Brittany suddenly screamed, seemingly out of nowhere. She jumped to her feet and continued screaming as Santana joined in.

"Yeah 11! Break me off a piece of that!" she blew a kiss in the direction of the changing rooms, and Rachel saw the football team running out for practice, and sure enough, Mike and Matt wearing numbers 28 and 11, respectively. All the cheerleaders suddenly perked up at the sight of the boys running toward them: hair was smoothed, skirts were hiked up an inch or two, and chests were pushed out. Rachel rolled her eyes at the hurried preening going on around her, and smiled in the direction of the Glee footballers (except Kurt).

Sue chose that exact moment to loudly call and end to their break, after only twelve minutes. "Get back to it you lazy babies!" She hollered. "Tanaka you had better keep your Neanderthals as far away from my performers as this pitch will physically allow. I can almost smell the failure from here, and I'm afraid that it is contagious."

The girls fell back into line and began repeating cheers as Santana called them. On the other side of the pitch the footballers warmed up and then began running drills. A while later Sue demanded to see each individuals' back hand-spring; a key element to two of the cheers that would be performed during the game. Rachel, Santana, Brittany, Claire, Emily, Quinn and three others passed Sue's inspection and were allowed to relax while the others were tortured until they performed five perfect ones in a row.

The five that had shared the last break together drifted over to the sideline by the boys practicing and spent their time coming up with cheers for the footballers they were friends with.

"_Legs 11, that's our cry. Matty's thighs are so damn fly!"_. Was chanted whenever Matt ran past, accompanied by all five girls doing a sequence of high kicks. Matt flashed them a grin and double thumbs up when the other guys slapped his back.

The next one they thought up was: _"Number 20, on the line, Puck is looking, mighty fine."_ Rachel could have sworn she saw his swagger increase and his arms flex as they hit their final pose, which just so happened to be a broken-t, which made them look like they were flexing their biceps in a classic bodybuilder pose.

They struggled to come up with anything for Finn, until they saw him get hit in the side of his helmet with a football when he wasn't paying attention. Rachel whispered her idea to the other girls, and they made sure to cheer as loud as possible to make all the players hear.

"1-2, 3-4-5, Frankenteen, look alive!"

The football players on the pitch howled with laughter and shouted heir appreciation at the five girls, who each took a dainty curtsey before sprinting back over to the rest of the girls. The entire squad cheered when the last freshman completed her required moves, allowing them all to move on to something else.

After a few more hours, Sue finally deemed them to be 'mediocre' – something that the new recruits were quick to realise was the highest attempt at praise given by their coach – and dismissed them after announcing that they would be learning stunts and the half-time routine during their after-school rehearsals.

Santana, Brittany and Rachel returned all of the equipment to its place, and when they were finished they were greeted by Emily running over to them with her long ponytail swinging violently behind her. She skidded to a stop in front of the trio and promptly began bouncing up and down on the spot. From the corner of her eye Rachel could see Brittany bobbing along on the balls of her feet, and wondered if it was catching, and if she'd be bouncing with them soon enough.

"I'm Jason's buddy!" she yell-whispered, looking shiftily around at the rest of the squad who were loitering around. "Don't tell Tammy, she wanted him again this year. Who'd you guys ask?"

"Matt." Santana shrugged non-chalantly.

"Mike." Brittany said. "But me and San will switch back and forth."

"What are you guys on about?" Rachel asked confusedly.

"Cheer-buddies" Emily said slowly "When you partner one of the team for the season, announce them at games and pep-rallies, decorate their locker and help build their school spirit. In return they basically worship you and they almost always ask you out."

"Didn't we tell you?" Santana asked, horrified that she'd forgotten something so important for a Cheerio's social standing. God forbid Rachel end up with Azimio or Hummel.

"Quick Rach, go ask Finn before someone else does. If not, you can have Matt and I'll snag another one. You want someone you're friends with or they'll just abuse your position. She thought back to her freshman year when she'd been buddied with a random junior, and he'd tried to her to wash his car. Santana had kicked him in the balls, but she had a suspicion that Rachel was too nice.

Rachel walked over to the few guys that were still outside of the room, easily spotting Finn towering over the rest.

"Hey Finn, can I speak with you?" She asked, smiling at the tall boy's dopey smile. He honestly was too adorable. They walked a few feet from the other boys to create an illusion of privacy,

"So apparently no-one told me about the whole 'buddy' syste until just now, so I couldn't ask you before, but do you wanto be mine?" she began, "I think it would be a good way for us to spend more time together."

Finn rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Err, Quinn kind of already asked me." He mumbled, "I said yes. I mean, we were buddies last year, and I thought you wouldn't want to be mine since you didn't ask me."

Rachel felt her stomach drop. Quinn. He chose Quinn." She forced a tight smile onto her face.

"No problem." She gritted out, barely containing the anger that was bubbling under the surface. "You should go get showered." she told him, noticing that all of the other players were all in the locker room. Finn nodded and walked off.

As soon as the door closed behind him, Rachel kicked the brick wall closest to her in sheer frustration.

"Now now Berry, what did that wall ever do to you?" Puck walked out just in time to see Rachel's little hissy fit.

"Not the wall," she grunted "Finn. A brick wall was the closest substitute I could find on which to vent my frustrations." Puck laughed at the comparison. You honestly would get an identical response from both at times.

"What did Frankenteen do?" he asked. Rachel smiled weakly at the reference to her earlier cheer.

"I'm probably over reacting," she sighed, not truly believing herself, but trying to belittle the situation for Puck's benefit. "Quinn asked him to be her buddy, and he said yes."

"That sucks" Puck said. To be honest, he didn't really care but Rachel looked upset, so he thought it best to offer sympathy.

"Yeah. It will be fine though, Santana has kindly offered to buddy with someone else so that I can be with Matt. Matt's nice."

"Screw that, go with me." Puck told her.

"Seriously? Given your reputation, I presumed that you'd have had lots of propositions by now." She asked.

"I have. Seven to be precise. I just said no to all of them." He shrugged.

"Why?"

"Freshman year. I was buddies with this chick called Lisa. We made out after the home-coming game and she spent the rest of the school year stalking me to do it again, and trying to use the buddy thing as an excuse. Didn't have one last year and wasn't planning on one this year." He said "But since we've already made out, I'll trust you not to stalk me."

"I'll try to resist" Rachel retorted drily.

Puck chuckled. "I gotta get to work. See you Monday, Buddy."

Rachel rejoined Brittany, Santana and Emily at the other end of the field.

"So how did it go?" Brittany asked.

"Looks like I'm buddies with Noah." Rachel said. The more she thought about it, being buddies with Puck might actually be fun.

"Puck, but what about Finn?" Santana asked.

"Quinn got to him first." Rachel replied.

"That conniving little snake." Santana spat. "This proves my theory: she's going after Finn. She either still loves him, or she thinks that dating the quarterback will get her status back again. Anyway, you're dating Finn, aren't you? So buddies isn't important."

"Well we're not actually dating..." Rachel gave the girls a brief rundown of the situation, gaining a bucket-load of respect from the two who knew the history, for not throwing herself at him when he wanted her.

Rachel heard the opening lines of _'Don't Stop Believing'_ coming from her cell phone somewhere within the massive pile of bags on the sidelines, and enlisted the three girls with her to help rummage for it. She flipped her phone open just before it sent the call to voice mail.

"Hello?" she hadn't had time to check the call ID.

"Hi Rachel." It was Finn. "I didn't know if you'd left yet, I'm going to be here for a while yet." Rachel wondered if he had gotten Mineral Ice in his eye again. "Are you free tonight?"

"Tonight? Sure." Rachel smiled. Maybe he hadn't chosen Quinn after all.

"Great, I'll pick you up at seven?" he asked.

"Sure, sounds great. I'll see you then." She hung up and turned to the girls. "So I have a date with Finn tonight."

Brittany gave a rapid round of applause, squealed "MAKEOVER!" and nearly dislocated Rachel's shoulder as she dragged her to the car.

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**A/N: REVIEW!**


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